Well, Fall is here.
Students are going crazy. One student came into the teachers room (during forbidden entrance time because of test preparations) and pushed a teacher beacuse he was very angry. I don:t really know the full explanation because it wasn:t really an appropriate time to ask. [Such an action is VERY unusual for a Japanese student]. Then yesterday another student, who is my table tennis buddy, had a hyperventillation breakdown. All the teachers rushed to surround her. She was in the hallway or bathroom. I didn:t go, but I did ask for an explanation this time. The teacher told me it was probably because of friends fighting. What is going on in my school?! All of the teachers know the students on this intimate level. But I only get a few glimpese into whats happening from stuff that occurs in front of me, one of the part time JTEs, and occasionally from the Chinese student who comes to talk to me and tell me how much he hates the school and wants to go to America! He said to me the other day that he thought Japanese people were cold! I was very surprised but at the same time, I can see where he is coming from as an Asian outsider meant to assimilate their culture. They might not be as accepting of him, whereas with me, they accept me as an outsider who will remain an outsider. No threat from this blonde haired blue eyed camp folks!!
I am at a roadblock with my Japanese. I recently put kerosene fuel in my car and realized it after I had filled it about 5 liters. Luckily, they were able to drain my car with no problems. Because I realized it early and didnt start the engine, the fuel didn:t enter the system, so I saved alot of money. Speaking with the gas attendants, I realized though, that my Japanese is nowhere near where it should be. And with my family coming in a few months, I had better start absorbing faster!
My gas gauge was broken after they emptied the tank, so they told me to go to the car shop and when I suggested it was the gas people that broke it when they emptied the tank they said "no no no, its definately because your car is 20 years old....there is no other explanation!" What?!?! This is one of the frustrating things about not being able to speak. I had my Japanese mama with me so she helped out alot, but everything had to go through her and she agreed with the mechanic, so it was useless. Her English isn:t that good so most of the time I only partially understand her. And the English she does speak is just like the Japanese I speak.
Anyways, they didn:t want to fix the gas gauge and so they keep telling me to use the odometer and then they reset it and so now I have no idea how much gas is in my car!
In other news, I went on a cool religious pilgrimage for 4 days at the beginning of September. I will post a blog about some parts of it, but I was sworn for secrecy so I have to be selective with what I write!
Monday, 6 October 2008
June 24th email
Leg blankets have been replaced with fans, the vending machines now have more cold drinks than hot, school uniforms have changed (but the skirts remain hiked up), the sun is setting later, bugs are emerging, the 100yen store is selling fireworks and waterguns and "atsui" is the new favored expression in the staff room. Summer is here. Its cherry picking season in Yamagata. Many prefectures in Japan are famous for a certain type of food. Whether these designations are arbitrary or business-driven, I don:t know. While I do think some prefectures have some legitimate bragging rights, sometimes it seems rather random. My prefecture happens to be famous for cherries. And our cherries are expensive!!! I had my first taste of Yamagata cherries as my reward for participating in the Higashine Sakuranbo Marathon. They were delicious but nothing seemed particularly special about them. To me, they were just cherries. Not really worth the $30-$40 a box price. The real fun lies in the cherry picking. Which I got to do last week with a Japanese friend. [I will preface this story by saying that lately I have been hanging with two older, unmarried Japanese women in their 50s who seem to be older, wiser, versions of 2 different sides of my personality―one loves hiking, gardening, and Bob Dylan; the other one loves beer, stupid jokes, and can get crazy and semi-naked]. I went cherry picking with the crazy one.
She picked me up in her black air-conditioned car and her, and Amy (another Japanese woman) and I went to the cherry trees. She buys her own tree every year―which costs around $300 a year. Rich Tokyo folks will spend up to $700 on a tree and then they have to come up to Yamagata to pick the cherries. So, we went to her tree and I climbed and started picking. 5-10 minutes later her and Amy took cigarette breaks and started talking their friend who worked at the place. The were calling him "gigi" (old man) and he was firing back with the name calling. I climbed down. We started throwing cherries at him. He brought us some sour cherries to eat. More name calling and cherry throwing ensued. I went back up and picked a little more but then Amy and Chiaki (my friend) had had enough. We left and then sorted and boxed cherries to send to customers and family in Tokyo. I now have a deeper appreciation of Japan's need to have and exploit local specialties. Its about the experience.
In other rumors and news, tomorrow there is supposed to be a large earthquake that will destroy large parts of Yamagata prefecture. Rumor has it that predictions have been made by Chinese Astrologists, a random medicine woman in Mexico, and a group of Brazilian midgets. It is a bit disconcerting considering the recent earthquake in China and the 7.8 earthquake we had in Northern Japan last weekend (I felt the earthquake as a 4 in my town). Today we are supposed to have emergency drills―but I think these drills are just coincidence. And my friend who was recently in Tokyo told me that a couple people in Tokyo asked her if she was in Tokyo to escape the big earthquake that was supposed to happen. Ridiculous. I don:t really believe it. But if I don:t reply tomorrow…
Not much else is happening around here, I keep busy during the weeks and on weekends. It is a little weird to still be in school this late in June. I used to think the 3rd, 4th and 5th year JETs were crazy―how could they stay away from their family and friends for so long? But now I get it. This country is incredibly easy to live in and when you build your life here, it becomes hard to leave it. However, the job as an ALT is what drives people away after the standard 2 year stint. Depressing winter months with no classes, the inability to see the student's progress, little to no job autonomy, being consistently kept in the dark about some things, and generally―you are just an outsider and an assistant at that. However, it can be really FUN! Not to mention all the Japanese responsibilities that are forgone precisely because of your foreign assistant status. I can go to sports clubs and play sports with the students and I don't have to work every weekend like many of the club teachers. Many ALTs leave because they want more job responsibility, not because of Japan.
She picked me up in her black air-conditioned car and her, and Amy (another Japanese woman) and I went to the cherry trees. She buys her own tree every year―which costs around $300 a year. Rich Tokyo folks will spend up to $700 on a tree and then they have to come up to Yamagata to pick the cherries. So, we went to her tree and I climbed and started picking. 5-10 minutes later her and Amy took cigarette breaks and started talking their friend who worked at the place. The were calling him "gigi" (old man) and he was firing back with the name calling. I climbed down. We started throwing cherries at him. He brought us some sour cherries to eat. More name calling and cherry throwing ensued. I went back up and picked a little more but then Amy and Chiaki (my friend) had had enough. We left and then sorted and boxed cherries to send to customers and family in Tokyo. I now have a deeper appreciation of Japan's need to have and exploit local specialties. Its about the experience.
In other rumors and news, tomorrow there is supposed to be a large earthquake that will destroy large parts of Yamagata prefecture. Rumor has it that predictions have been made by Chinese Astrologists, a random medicine woman in Mexico, and a group of Brazilian midgets. It is a bit disconcerting considering the recent earthquake in China and the 7.8 earthquake we had in Northern Japan last weekend (I felt the earthquake as a 4 in my town). Today we are supposed to have emergency drills―but I think these drills are just coincidence. And my friend who was recently in Tokyo told me that a couple people in Tokyo asked her if she was in Tokyo to escape the big earthquake that was supposed to happen. Ridiculous. I don:t really believe it. But if I don:t reply tomorrow…
Not much else is happening around here, I keep busy during the weeks and on weekends. It is a little weird to still be in school this late in June. I used to think the 3rd, 4th and 5th year JETs were crazy―how could they stay away from their family and friends for so long? But now I get it. This country is incredibly easy to live in and when you build your life here, it becomes hard to leave it. However, the job as an ALT is what drives people away after the standard 2 year stint. Depressing winter months with no classes, the inability to see the student's progress, little to no job autonomy, being consistently kept in the dark about some things, and generally―you are just an outsider and an assistant at that. However, it can be really FUN! Not to mention all the Japanese responsibilities that are forgone precisely because of your foreign assistant status. I can go to sports clubs and play sports with the students and I don't have to work every weekend like many of the club teachers. Many ALTs leave because they want more job responsibility, not because of Japan.
Tuesday, 17 June 2008
Elementary School, Earthquakes, and Rocky LSATS
I went to Elementary school today and absolutely loved it. Although I think I would probably tire of it if I had to do it every single day of the week. The kids are so much happier than the high schoolers and they all love to participate!! They also grabbed my hand and took me to play with them and asked me tons of questions in Japanese...What a change! I love it. I wish I could get more random elementary days. Its also interesting to see the students at a much younger level and to imagine which of the current high school student personalities they will eventually morph into: the lackadasical student, the eager student, the reclusive student, the painfully shy student, the ADD student, the perpetually asleep student, the big hair student, the overweight student, etc. I love the elementary age when they are all participating without self-consciousness although I saw some of their self-consciousness kick in when one student got the wrong answer and was reluctant to answer questions for the next 20 minutes. It can be sad to see how in high school all the students seem to form separate cliques and become viscious protectors of those clique members and how the painfully shy students (male and female) try to absorb themselves into the background. You do something to offened others in the clique and your fucked. No questions are asked, acidic stuff is said and written, that particular student's well-being is on the line. There are no explanations, it appears to be much easier just to write someone off rather than try to fix things in some cases...I can see it in the puri kuras of students whom have crossed out a picture of someone previously in the picture. I hear about it when the teachers tell me about the internet bullying which happens over kei-tais and internet blogs. These poor high school girls come into the teachers room crying sometimes. [Surprisingly, I am learning that this can still happen in your 20s, and even in your 30s!!] The phenomena of Hikikomori is unique to Japan and I think that says alot about the collective culture and just how debilitating it can be sometimes. Recently a man in Akihabara stabbed a bunch of people with a knife, I think he actually killed some people. He was arrested and is now in jail. His reasoning was that he was tired of life and he didn't like Japanese society. I was speaking with my Japanese friend about this (the Jam Lady, whom I go hiking with often) and she said "why didn't he just kill himself if he was so tired with society" "If he wanted out, he should just kill himself...thats the best way for everyone". Something about this statement seemed to sum up the Japanese viewpoint to me. It also struck a funny chord with me. It was one of those statements that you could think, "hmm, yea, I see your point" but then later think "what the hell?!!?". However, I think in this case, I was thinking "what the hell" from the very start....Anyays, I've been chewing on it for a few days. There is so much suicide in this country yet its rarely on the news and its never talked about as a problem endemic to Japan. (And while its not an endemic problem, it certainly happens more here than anywhere else!) It appears to be a widely accepted way of getting out of a troublesome situation. I realize that I have just made it through both mixed CDs from the quadlings and it is almost 1am...yikes!!! Dear Matthew Stone: Thank you for the Pearl Jam :)
Monday, 2 June 2008
pictures and happy fun time
Ah, I feel like Ive been falling behind with the blog with all that has been happening these days. Clare and I were interviewed for TV twice last weekend. Once at the shi shi festival and the next day at rice planting. I wasn:t able to actually see either of the interviews though, which is probably a good thing. At the shi shi festival the guys controlling the lion made it snap 4 times in front of my face...which is supposed to bring good luck. It was a little odd though because they were muttering to me in a deep voice and then snapping this huge head mere centimeters away from my face. In other news, random vacation days in the middle of the week a couple of weeks ago were fruitful with lots of hiking and fun. These days I feel like I could live in Japan forever. Japan is such an easy country to live in. I see why many people stay here. But, it is not home...and I do miss home. My time to visit home is quickly approaching and while I:m really looking forward to it, it will be strange to know that its probably the last time I will be in our house in Maryland because my parents are moving within the next year :(. Im also hoping to see everyone but I know in reality, time wont allow for that. My thoughts are fractured as I write this blog. A morning spent looking up international grad schools and places to volunteer/work has only proved to confuse me further by widening my possibilities for post-JET life. Do I really want to go to grad school? Where, When, Why, For What? Transient ideas fill my head, some more solidified than others. Nomadic life: is it a good thing? I frolic in the knowledge that I have another year of the Japan safety net. And as I am here, I really need to be HERE. That said...time to learning Japanese!
Monday, 12 May 2008
Blogging: The epitomy of ego
Who are blogs for anyways. Answer me that.
Anyways, I write this for you. You who is reading this. But anyways, I write this mainly for my friends at home, whom I think want to hear updates on what Im doing in this country. But maybe they don:t want to hear. In which case, why do I bother? Why do I bother other than the fact that I have no classes for 2 week blocks around test time and am stuck at a desk with Japanese study books and a computer. well, thats your answer. Or maybe its my answer. Maybe I write this for me so that I can convince myself that my time in Japan is actually happening and I can validate it by uploading data. Who am I other than the data that surrounds me? Maybe thats why I'm here, to give myself more data.
I wrote a letter to Abby today and thought I would post part of it here for well...in honesty, simply because I think its interesting and this is a blog and thats what you do on blogs. you fill in the gaps.
"Its mountain vegetable collecting time in Japan. It is sad because none of the younger generations seem to go out an collect mountain vegetables like their parents. I can see this slow paradigm shift just by looking at a cross section of generations. I wonder when the day will come that no-one knows which mountain vegetables to pick anymore. After reading "Omnivore's Dilemna" (and before reading it too) I feel this dissattachment from the food we eat is increasingly imminent in Japan where packaged food is ridiculously widespread and few people have time to cook meals for themselves let alone gather it. (exempt from this are the Obachans and housewifes and farmers who are the ones still gathering the mountain veggies.) Japan is becoming, and I hate to say this cliche of westernization, so I wont, I will simply say, it is becoming a faster society. A society of convinience. I hate to generalize and to make broad statements based on a few scattered examples I have seen in my limited world of Nagai, Japan, so if you are reading, take this at face value. Back to the generational cross-section. Of all the Japanese people I know, the ones I know the least about on the inside are the students. Sometimes I get the occasional personal divulgence from them, but I always feel like something is hidden. There is something that I cant quite seem to get. Perhaps it is because I am an outsider to their culture. Its hard to really know what goes on in the Japanese student's mind. It seems very similar to the American student's mind yet there is this certain element of innocence and naivete attached to it that is lacking in the American students' mind. There also appears to be an incredible sense of conformity to social norms and groupthink. I went to the table tennis match on saturday and when our team lost, many of the girls were crying. One girl was crying especially hard because her game was very close and she felt as though she had lost it for the whole team. She is actually one of my favorite table tennis friends (although not the best student) she always talks to me at practice. I gave them all hugs and comforted them but there wasn:t much I could say or do other than that. It was at that time that I really felt more like a teacher than a friend. I had not played with them, I didn:t share their pain in loosing. There are so many moments at this job where I feel like one of the students. It was curious to have a teacherly moment that all Japanese teachers experience daily in their roles as teachers/caregivers/parents to these students. These students that they see almost more than the actual parents see the students.
So Ive kind of deviated from the original letter I wrote to Abby and have gone off on multiple tangents. But I:m just going to end this on a tangent of the tangents. In conclusion: American and Japanese students should pick more mountain vegetables.
Anyways, I write this for you. You who is reading this. But anyways, I write this mainly for my friends at home, whom I think want to hear updates on what Im doing in this country. But maybe they don:t want to hear. In which case, why do I bother? Why do I bother other than the fact that I have no classes for 2 week blocks around test time and am stuck at a desk with Japanese study books and a computer. well, thats your answer. Or maybe its my answer. Maybe I write this for me so that I can convince myself that my time in Japan is actually happening and I can validate it by uploading data. Who am I other than the data that surrounds me? Maybe thats why I'm here, to give myself more data.
I wrote a letter to Abby today and thought I would post part of it here for well...in honesty, simply because I think its interesting and this is a blog and thats what you do on blogs. you fill in the gaps.
"Its mountain vegetable collecting time in Japan. It is sad because none of the younger generations seem to go out an collect mountain vegetables like their parents. I can see this slow paradigm shift just by looking at a cross section of generations. I wonder when the day will come that no-one knows which mountain vegetables to pick anymore. After reading "Omnivore's Dilemna" (and before reading it too) I feel this dissattachment from the food we eat is increasingly imminent in Japan where packaged food is ridiculously widespread and few people have time to cook meals for themselves let alone gather it. (exempt from this are the Obachans and housewifes and farmers who are the ones still gathering the mountain veggies.) Japan is becoming, and I hate to say this cliche of westernization, so I wont, I will simply say, it is becoming a faster society. A society of convinience. I hate to generalize and to make broad statements based on a few scattered examples I have seen in my limited world of Nagai, Japan, so if you are reading, take this at face value. Back to the generational cross-section. Of all the Japanese people I know, the ones I know the least about on the inside are the students. Sometimes I get the occasional personal divulgence from them, but I always feel like something is hidden. There is something that I cant quite seem to get. Perhaps it is because I am an outsider to their culture. Its hard to really know what goes on in the Japanese student's mind. It seems very similar to the American student's mind yet there is this certain element of innocence and naivete attached to it that is lacking in the American students' mind. There also appears to be an incredible sense of conformity to social norms and groupthink. I went to the table tennis match on saturday and when our team lost, many of the girls were crying. One girl was crying especially hard because her game was very close and she felt as though she had lost it for the whole team. She is actually one of my favorite table tennis friends (although not the best student) she always talks to me at practice. I gave them all hugs and comforted them but there wasn:t much I could say or do other than that. It was at that time that I really felt more like a teacher than a friend. I had not played with them, I didn:t share their pain in loosing. There are so many moments at this job where I feel like one of the students. It was curious to have a teacherly moment that all Japanese teachers experience daily in their roles as teachers/caregivers/parents to these students. These students that they see almost more than the actual parents see the students.
So Ive kind of deviated from the original letter I wrote to Abby and have gone off on multiple tangents. But I:m just going to end this on a tangent of the tangents. In conclusion: American and Japanese students should pick more mountain vegetables.
miyagi camping trip
abbriviated version of our camping trip in Miyagi ken. Pictures to come.
Started off with a samurai battle reenactment by the banks of the river. It was a lot of waiting around for a little bit of action. Some foreigners got to be Samurai too. Their glorifiying moment was crossing the river in full armor to go to battle the opposing samurai. But now that I know how much waiting around in the blazing sun that that requires, I don't think I will be doing it next year. I did however manage to cross the big river 3 times later that day in my underwear.
Near our camping spot there was a beautiful river with crystal clear waters, chock full of swimming holes and waterfalls, a million times nicer than the Patuxent. but it gave me good memories of home. When we were hiking it was raining a little and the water was so cold that we couldn't swim in it really. I hope to go back there and hang out in the clear river someday soon! Our second night of camping we were happily drinking beers and plum wine and sake, singing along to Jeff and his guitar. Then Jeff plays this demonic death song on his guitar that comes out of nowhere. (It was pretty funny for a death song). After that we go to sing yellow submarine. Despite the massive winds that are going on and the rain around us, we are under a covered area with tables and a cooking fire so things are manageable. Then the wind tarp blows off posts of the covered area and we see our behemoth tent blown over on its side. It was as if Jeff summoned the wrath of the gods with his death song. Craziness ensued for the next hour. Everyone sobered up quickly. And the random jeep that conintually passed our campsite with its headlights didn't reeapear for the next hour. We were like ants in an army trying to dissasemble and reassemble tents. protect everything from the crazy wind. We moved our tents to a grassy area below the toilets. safe at last. 1:30am. Then the weird guy with the jeep starts shining his lights at us. What the hell. How creepy. Jeff and I go over to investigate. The sky is dark with brilliantly lit stars and gray clouds. There is no rain but the wind is still wrapping itself around everything in its path. We approach the jeep. "sumimasen" we call out. But the man in the jeep doesn't answer. It is very weird and odd. I got one of those uncomfortable, this-could-be-dangerous feelings which I rarely ever get in this country. We stand there for 4 minutes calling out to him and shining our light towards his truck and on ourselves. No answer. He drunkinly stumbles out. "mutter mutter mutter, I like my car, mutter mutter mutter" what?! He apparantly lives in the house but decided to hang out in the car parked in the driveway and watch some gaijin entertainment for the night. He was confused. I couldn't sleep for most of the night with the winds howling and creepy drunk man on the prowl. but when I finally did fall asleep, I woke up early the next morning anyways. I saw our drunken friend and he said he had been drinking since 4 am that morning. Which would have meant that he had gone to bed for 2 hours, then woke up at 4 and started drinking again. What?! Anyways, the next day was glorious and beautiful. The wind had pushed away every cloud in sight. We had a nice involved slow food brunch of eggs, fruits, hot coco, tea, yogurt, granola, coffee, juice, ancient salad, onions and tomatos, and fired toasted bread. Delicious and perfect. Later that day we played some fun American touch football. It was weird to play football after being so used to rugby. All the Brittish people were still in rugby mode too. Dorie, was the star of the game. For her first time playing, she scored 2 goals and did really well!
Started off with a samurai battle reenactment by the banks of the river. It was a lot of waiting around for a little bit of action. Some foreigners got to be Samurai too. Their glorifiying moment was crossing the river in full armor to go to battle the opposing samurai. But now that I know how much waiting around in the blazing sun that that requires, I don't think I will be doing it next year. I did however manage to cross the big river 3 times later that day in my underwear.
Near our camping spot there was a beautiful river with crystal clear waters, chock full of swimming holes and waterfalls, a million times nicer than the Patuxent. but it gave me good memories of home. When we were hiking it was raining a little and the water was so cold that we couldn't swim in it really. I hope to go back there and hang out in the clear river someday soon! Our second night of camping we were happily drinking beers and plum wine and sake, singing along to Jeff and his guitar. Then Jeff plays this demonic death song on his guitar that comes out of nowhere. (It was pretty funny for a death song). After that we go to sing yellow submarine. Despite the massive winds that are going on and the rain around us, we are under a covered area with tables and a cooking fire so things are manageable. Then the wind tarp blows off posts of the covered area and we see our behemoth tent blown over on its side. It was as if Jeff summoned the wrath of the gods with his death song. Craziness ensued for the next hour. Everyone sobered up quickly. And the random jeep that conintually passed our campsite with its headlights didn't reeapear for the next hour. We were like ants in an army trying to dissasemble and reassemble tents. protect everything from the crazy wind. We moved our tents to a grassy area below the toilets. safe at last. 1:30am. Then the weird guy with the jeep starts shining his lights at us. What the hell. How creepy. Jeff and I go over to investigate. The sky is dark with brilliantly lit stars and gray clouds. There is no rain but the wind is still wrapping itself around everything in its path. We approach the jeep. "sumimasen" we call out. But the man in the jeep doesn't answer. It is very weird and odd. I got one of those uncomfortable, this-could-be-dangerous feelings which I rarely ever get in this country. We stand there for 4 minutes calling out to him and shining our light towards his truck and on ourselves. No answer. He drunkinly stumbles out. "mutter mutter mutter, I like my car, mutter mutter mutter" what?! He apparantly lives in the house but decided to hang out in the car parked in the driveway and watch some gaijin entertainment for the night. He was confused. I couldn't sleep for most of the night with the winds howling and creepy drunk man on the prowl. but when I finally did fall asleep, I woke up early the next morning anyways. I saw our drunken friend and he said he had been drinking since 4 am that morning. Which would have meant that he had gone to bed for 2 hours, then woke up at 4 and started drinking again. What?! Anyways, the next day was glorious and beautiful. The wind had pushed away every cloud in sight. We had a nice involved slow food brunch of eggs, fruits, hot coco, tea, yogurt, granola, coffee, juice, ancient salad, onions and tomatos, and fired toasted bread. Delicious and perfect. Later that day we played some fun American touch football. It was weird to play football after being so used to rugby. All the Brittish people were still in rugby mode too. Dorie, was the star of the game. For her first time playing, she scored 2 goals and did really well!
Thursday, 1 May 2008
Sakura!
I just went to the wierdest Yoga class of my life!!!! The teacher warned me that this would be different then Yoga I was used to. Then she told me it was Hatha yoga so I thought "oh, ok, I can do that, I did Hatha yoga back home". However, whatever we did was not Hatha yoga. You know how Japan just takes everything and Japanizes it (for example: Katakana, Christmas, Spaghetti, Pizza, Hip hop, bread, Valentines day)well, this was definately Japanized Yoga. The teacher yelled through the entire one minute of savasana. Savasana was done during the middle of the class rather than at the end And at the end we had partners that we gave some very strange somewhat uncomfortable massages too. The teacher choose me to be her partner since I was new and pretty soon she was jumping on the backs of my thighs. Then there was confusion and I ended up pathetically trying to follow her instructions to give a tiny japanese man a massage. He was trying to tell me what to do but his face was down and he was speaking Japanese so I didn't understand anything. Anyways. That was my day. Oh yea, and at work I was left in the teachers room all alone so I hopped out the window onto the balcony and I got caught by the gardener. He asked me why I didn't use the door and I told him to keep it a secret. I love being strange!
Here are some pictures of human chess and stuff
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